When referring to Political Divisions of China, town is the standard English translation of the Chinese 鎮 (simplified: 镇; pinyin: zhèn; Wade-Giles chen⁴). It is smaller in population and more remote than a township (乡; pinyin: xiāng).

However, the ROC official translation, both xiāng (鄉) and zhèn (鎮) are translated as "townships", with zhèn specifically being "urban" township, 'with 'xiāng specifically translated as "rural" township